Again The Question Needs To Be Asked. Is The Welsh Rugby Union Mad? Today's example: The Ospreys

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

There is a part of me that wonders whether we are witnessing a sort of unique Welsh mathematics rule being that the more success the national side has there is an equal and opposite reaction of incompetence on the Welsh club rugby scene.

So after Wales beat England in the six nations you expect something to happen in the club structure and there is no change here. You may remember a post I did where I discussed the proposal to change the Welsh regional club structure (called Project Reset by the way - says everything you need to know about the success of the Welsh rugby structure). The original proposal was of the current Welsh Pro14 teams (The Cardiff Blues, The Dragons, The Ospreys and the Scarlets) two should become the main teams whilst the other two "feeder" clubs.

This mad proposal was rejected. And a good thing too. End of story.

Well apparently not. For the latest proposal is to disband the Ospreys team and create one in North Wales instead.

As I've said before my view is that the Welsh teams should leave the Pro14 and go back to the previous local club structure which included promotion and relegation. I'm not going to back down on that point of view.

Four questions need to be asked.

What is the research that states that a North Walian regional team in the Pro14 is going to be successful? After all as we've previously discussed when you look at matches for the supposed heartlands of South and West Wales then the current regional teams do not play to full houses as opposed to those that play the round ball. So where is the proof that things will be different for a North Walian franchise?

Secondly why have the Ospreys been picked for this Sporting suicide? Why not the "financially troubled have to be bailed out by the WRU" Dragons? Since this regional rugby concept began they have been the most successful team yet for no apparent reason they're the ones venerable for the chop? What is the logic here?

Thirdly does the WRU seriously expect disenfranchised Ospreys fans (a team mainly playing in Swansea) to move their allegiances to the Cardiff Blues (yes really!) or the Scarlets? This is the same mad logic that for example assumed rugby fans from the South Wales Valleys would flock in their droves to watch the Cardiff Blues play. It did not work then. It will not work now.

And finally the most important question of all. Explain how in terms of anyone can truly argue that the regional rugby structure has been a success for the Welsh club game? Is it not a case that the WRU created a mess of it's own making and have made it even worse through the years?

So going back to the first point I raised in regard to the Welsh rugby mathematical formula. With this increased mayhem I predict that Wales will win the rugby world cup later this year. With regard to the club game however predictions are impossible.

Until the next time.

The Welsh Rugby Union......Sport's Welsh Labour?

Hello there. Hope you're feeling today.

When I was young growing up in London my knowledge of Wales was limited and now I realise full of cliches. When Wales either in fact or fiction appeared on British TV it would generally include a coal mine, a choir,a pub, socialism and poverty (the last of which I'd argue still exists and has got worse in the last decade).

(A quick aside here. I was told when in London by a Welsh woman who moved there that the cliché she hated the most was that when the miners left the coal mine for the day they were singing. Her grandfather told her that they were too weary and just wanted to get home)

The other cliché that would always appear was rugby. That it was "the people's game". It was the sport that most people watched and played and followed their local team every Saturday afternoon after which they would go to the pub. And you know what? If my experience in the late nineties was anything to go by that cliché was basically true.

But in 2003 the structure of Welsh rugby at club level changed. Instead of a league structure like football with promotion/relegation there would just be five teams that would join teams in Scotland and Ireland to form the Celtic League. All the other teams, some with a great history like Pontypool would just become feeder clubs to the big five.

And yes I said five. The Celtic Warriors. The team that was the merger between Bridgend and Pontypridd. The team that I must admit was looking forward to taking my then baby daughter to on a Saturday to support her (and our) local team. But in 2004, for financial reasons that are too complex to explain here the Welsh Rugby Union closed the team down.

Thirteen years later however we have now got the news that the Welsh Rugby Union have taken over the Newport Gwent Dragons and possibly (at least for a temporary period) the Cardiff Blues because of various financial issues.

And the question needs to be asked how has it come to this? The answer I would argue is that taken as a whole (because I think Scarlets are an exception) these (now four) teams failed to convince enough people to follow them. In other words people from Pontypridd would rather watch their local team play in a lower tier rugby game than travel to Cardiff to see a club that they had no emotional attachment to whatsoever. Or why would I take a forty minute drive to Swansea to watch a team hoisted on me by default when the Warriors folded? Welsh rugby is not the NFL but the Welsh Rugby Union thought it would be a successful model for Wales. For the moment at least this isn't

Also the point about supporting a club is that you will have that dream that your team would reach the top of their sport. The Welsh Rugby Union took that dream away from a lot of fans in clubs across the country. Consequently a lot of these fans became disillusioned and didn't feel the impetus to attend every game whereas once was a reflex reaction to being a Welsh rugby supporter.

You could also argue that it has been unlucky with the relative rise in that period of Cardiff and Swansea City football clubs.  Swansea shares their ground with the Ospreys and the difference in attendances is embarrassing. Equally when for a short period the Blues shared with Cardiff City at the Cardiff City Stadium. When the Blues eventually moved back to the Arms Park it was I remember hailed by the BBC as a victory for the fans. But in reality it was an admission of failure. They could never even give an impression of filling the stadium which Cardiff City could do with ease. There is a good case for saying that at a club level football is now the national sport.

What could be done? Well I have no knowledge of the financial issues but I'm inclined to go back to the future and create the situation that existed before regional rugby was created. That way there would be local clubs that could be guaranteed real local support that could be built upon. It's no coincidence that when I see a second tier Welsh rugby game the attendances are impressive.

The Welsh Rugby Union find themselves in this situation because they alienated their base. Consequently whilst they are still the biggest sporting organisation in Wales they, and indeed Welsh club rugby, are not (talking generally) as part of the local fabric that they once were. The analogy with Welsh Labour is striking.

And they have only themselves to blame.

Until the next time.